Watch as hiker scares off mountain lion following him in California — by roaring at it

A hiker near California’s Pyramid Lake who found himself being chased by a cougar resorted to an unusual solution — roaring at the animal and chasing it back.

Musician, actor and private chef Dutch Faro shared a video of the encounter on Instagram. In the video, Faro can be seen walking along a trail while playing music - “Out in the Woods” by Leon Russell - seemingly off in a world of his own.

“I was really just enjoying my hike, making a funny video and documenting it,” Faro, 21, told McClatchy News.

But at one point, he turns around to see the mountain lion bounding toward him.

“Oh, s---,” Faro exclaims.

He caught a glimpse in his peripheral vision of something running after him. At first, he thought it was a dog running off-trail. But he soon realized it was actually a wild animal.

“When I turned around and really got a look at it, I could tell it was a f------ cougar,” Faro said.

Luckily, his quick thinking helped him thwart the mountain lion. Instead of freezing, Faro can be heard letting out a roar and briefly stepping toward the animal. The cougar is seen quickly changing course and running off into the hills.

Faro said he didn’t have time to think — he simply acted on “primal instinct.”

“I went back thousands of years and just let out a caveman roar,” he said. “I’m glad it worked - I could have been in the hospital right now.”

Faro continued the hike and went about his day as usual — but was a little more wary of his surroundings on the way back up the mountain.

“People are asking me, ‘did your life flash before your eyes?’” Faro said. “I didn’t have time for my life to flash before my eyes — I had to think on my feet.”

Despite the scary encounter, experts say that human encounters with mountain lions tend to be rare, and that the risk of being attacked by one of the animals is relatively small.

“If lions had any natural urge to hunt people, there would be attacks every single day,” the Mountain Lion Foundation said on its website. “Instead, they avoid us.”

Still, the organization recommends that people who “live, work, or play in cat country” stay alert, just in case they do end up in a situation like Faro’s. If people do come across mountain lions, they should stop, try to make themselves look bigger and more intimidating, wave their arms and speak firmly, and possibly throw items at the animal to scare it off, the foundation says.

And if people do get attacked, they should try to fight back — mountain lions can often be driven away, the organization said.

“Do not act timid or play dead in front of a cat,” the foundation said.

The National Park Service reiterates that people who encounter mountain lions should not run away from them, as running could trigger the lion’s instinct to chase.

Faro said he thinks that could be why the mountain lion began pursuing him.

“There’s a moment in the video where I jumped over a bush to get back onto the trail, and I started doing a light jog,” he said. “I think he thought I was trying to get away.”

The agency also cautions against crouching down or bending over. Biologists suspect that mountain lions don’t perceive standing humans as prey, but they could mistake a person squatting or bending over for a four-legged animal they might want to hunt.

Justin Dellinger, a large carnivore researcher for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told Backpacker that the lion in Faro’s video seemed young. While it seemed to be focusing on Faro, it was “likely less experienced in hunting and procuring food,” giving Faro an advantage in his ability to scare it off, Dellinger said.

The researcher added that the infrequent nature of these encounters is a testament to how skilled mountain lions are at living among people without ever being noticed by them.

Mountain lions used to live all over the country, but now primarily reside in 16 states, most of them in the western part of the U.S., the Cougar Fund said on its website. State game agencies estimate that there are between 20,000 and 40,000 mountain lions in the U.S., according to the Mountain Lion Foundation.

This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Watch as hiker scares off mountain lion following him in California — by roaring at it."